Video: Fresh landslide on Rohru-Hatkoti road brings traffic to halt

For now, the local authority has stopped plying of vehicles on this road. It diverted the traffic via the Kharapathar-Mendli road.

Shimla – Himachal Pradesh has not found any respite from the landslides. On Friday morning a landslide in Shimla district brought the traffic on the Rohru-Hatkoti-Theog to a halt.

The landslide was captured on a video by onlookers. Fortunately, small rocks and debris had started to roll down before a huge rock landed on the road. It alarmed the people and the traffic was stopped on the both sides.

Watch Video

As per initial reports, the spot of the landslide was somewhere near Dochi village in Jubbal.

No loss of life or damages were reported except to a house and electricity wires.

Long lines of traffic were noted on both sides. For now, the local authority has stopped plying of vehicles on this road. It diverted the traffic via the Kharapathar-Mendli road.

As per PWD, the work to clear the road is underway. The workers are cutting the huge rock that has blocked the road.

It’s pertinent to mention that apple season is in full swing and Rohru-Hatkoti-Theog road is the life line for the apple growers as most of their crop is transported through this route every year. Due to this landslide, the apple trucks were stuck in the traffic too.

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Rohit Kumar Saval joins as CM Jairam’s media adviser

Shimla: Rohit Kumar Saval, who has an extensive experience in media, today joined as Media Advisor to Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur, at Shimla. Later he called on the Chief Minister and discussed issues related to media in the State.

Chief Minister said that Rohit Kumar Saval has been working for a long time with media and has a rich experience of working at State and National level. He said the role of media is very important in the dissemination of programs and policies of the state government.

His appointment as an advisor will strengthen media liaison as well as promote professionalism in the government system, he said.

The government said that these gifts were given to the MLAs and ministers by the E-Vidhan wing of the HP Vidhan Sabha and will be used for official work.

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Government on March 16, 2018, gifted electronic devices including a Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which currently costs between 68,000 to 70,000 INR, a laptop, and a printer to all the elected members of the 13th Assembly including the council of ministers.

The average cost per MLA is estimated to be above one lakh INR. The total cost touches almost 1 crore INR. The Information and Technology Minister, Ram Lal Markanda, personally visited the Speaker Rajiv Bindal to deliver the gifts.

The news has attracted criticism from several groups, especially on social media and regional online news portals. The Bhartiya Janata Party has been opening scathing attacks on the previous Congress government over a debt of 46,000 crores INR.

Also, the state government did not take timely cognizance of the media reports about a 16-year-old poverty-stricken girl of Solan district who required lakhs of rupees to undergo a kidney transplant after she lost both of her own kidneys.

In the list of priorities, the gifts did come above the announcement of relief money to the girl.

Therefore, the reason for the criticism was quite apparent.

It is being speculated that some of the MLAs have even sold or handed their copies of devices to subordinate staff or family members as they already had high-end smartphones.

However, the government said that these gifts were given to the MLAs and ministers by the E-Vidhan wing of the HP Vidhan Sabha and will be used for official work during the current government tenure.

The Speaker said, the MLAs and Ministers will be given training regarding the operation of these electronic devices.

The effect of this step will be visible directly or indirectly in coming days. The government’s explanation that these electronics were gifted as part of the E-Vidhan program will be visible if all the recipient make themselves available to the public online.

Currently, the State government’s official websites are either not user-friendly or are in tatters and hardly contains latest data or information. As we had mentioned earlier, the official website of the State government has still not updated the name of the Chief Minister.

The average response rate to e-mails is critically low for the government departments and the offices of the ministers.

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Shimla: Deepika, a 16-year-old girl of Darlaghat region of Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district, who was about to die after both of her kidneys failed, has finally seen a ray of hope. The mother, who is a widow, was helplessly watching her daughter dying on the hospital bed.

A resident of Kashlog panchayat in Solan, Deepika is admitted at the PGI, Chandigarh. The hospital had asked the parents to arrange a donor along with depositing Rs. 19 lakh for the kidney transplant.

Before approaching the PGI, she remained admitted to the Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla.

The mother, Sukhdai, came ahead as a donor. Despite having a donor, the widowed mother found herself unable to arrange this gigantic amount required for the transplant.

The call for help first appear on social media and made rounds of Facebook and WhatsApp before reaching the Hindi dailies. A couple of social organizations did extend monetary support, which proved to be insufficient.

Himachal Watcher also contacted the girl’s mother and talked to her about the status of monetary assistance from the government.

With the help of the local journalists, she was filing the required documents to complete the formality to get the monetary help from HP Chief Minister’s fund, she told Himachal Watcher today.

As per sources, a delegation of local journalists had also met the Chief Minister and apprised him of the situation.

HW had also written to the Chief Minister, the State Health Minister, Vipin Singh Parmar, and the Union Health Minister Jai Prakash Nadda seeking their attention to the dying girl.

It is pertinent to mention that the government was facing outrage on social media over the delay in taking cognizance of this critical issue related to life and death of a school-going girl. It was an opportunity for the new government to show commitment to its “Beti Bachao, Beti Padha’ campaign, and it should not lose it.

Moreover, a couple of days ago, all the elected members of the State Legislative Assembly were given new Samsung Galaxy Note 8, a laptop, and a printer. The estimated price of the Galaxy Note 8 is between Rs. 68,000 to 70,000.

The questions were being raised as to why the government spent over one lakh on each MLA while a girl dies of poverty.

So finally, as per sources, the Chief Minister has immediately directed the hospital to prepare for the transplant process along with submitting the estimated cost of it.

Now, Deepika may soon get on her feet and join back her school.

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